Need help asap PLEASE

[sa8901]

Hey guys I'm fairly new here and I have a big favor to ask you guys. I am redesigning my website and I want to know how to add my shopping cart to my new layout? Here is the website I currently have that supplies my products www.rissracing.com and I am trying to get it to display on my new website that I designed www.webteksolution.com/rissracing3 How do i go about adding the shopping cart and all the contents within my new layout? Thank you all in advance!

[sa8901]

ok basically what im trying to do is get the shopping cart from the shopping_cart.php file to display on the new website? How can I do this please?

[lindsayanng]

i think it is a lot more complicated than what you are asking. there is no one answer. You would have to get the oscommerce down to the skeleton and then integrate it.

[sa8901]

i think it is a lot more complicated than what you are asking. there is no one answer. You would have to get the oscommerce down to the skeleton and then integrate it.

 

Well what do you mean down to the skeleton and how would I do that? Can't I just copy the php code in the shopping_cart.php file and put it in the new file with the new design?

[♥toyicebear]

The usually way of doing it is the exact opposite...

 

You implement the wanted design/template into oscommerce and use that for your complete site.

 

 

If you want use another solution for your website and to limit the part of the process that oscommerce does then this might be of help in implementing just that.

[lindsayanng]

no. This is not something that anyone can just tell you how to do. You will have to do a lot of research and reading to figure out how to impliment oscommerce (as a skeleton) into the design.

 

You are working with php here, which means that in order to take a website that is HTML, and put it into a php file structure, you are going to have a LOT of work..

 

did you look at the code for the basic oscommerce site?

 

the one index page actually has 4 different included .php pages. You would need to create 4 or more pages our of your one "template"

[sa8901]

then what is another solution for me? Cause I spent enough time designing this site as it is. Is there another shopping cart where I can just put my products in and have people buy from the site.

[lindsayanng]

you CAN just use paypal payments pro where they are redirected to a cart that you can customize to look like your store, but it is really a paypal shopping cart..

 

OR you can use what the above poster said and link your buynow buttons from your existing template to the oscommerce cart and try to make the oscommerce cart look a lot like your template.

 

You work at a web design company, correct? Do you not know a lot of php programming?? it IS possible to do.. No one here is going to give you step by step instructions because it is for an expert programmer.

[sa8901]

you CAN just use paypal payments pro where they are redirected to a cart that you can customize to look like your store, but it is really a paypal shopping cart..

 

OR you can use what the above poster said and link your buynow buttons from your existing template to the oscommerce cart and try to make the oscommerce cart look a lot like your template.

 

You work at a web design company, correct? Do you not know a lot of php programming?? it IS possible to do.. No one here is going to give you step by step instructions because it is for an expert programmer.

 

Correct. See I have tried to redesign the template but when I do it doesn't work. For example I'll go back to the store and then click buy now and when it gets to the shopping cart it shows empty. I figured I was gonna link the buy now buttons to the shopping cart I just need to find a way to design the shopping_cart.php file. Is that the only file that I would have to mess with if I wanted to design it like the website? Thank you again

[lindsayanng]

Well, the buy now button in your template, is it onethat you made and just linked to your cart? Because that would be useless. You need that button to query the databse for the product id, qty, model name/number, and price. A simple html link would not do it.

[sa8901]

Well, the buy now button in your template, is it onethat you made and just linked to your cart? Because that would be useless. You need that button to query the databse for the product id, qty, model name/number, and price. A simple html link would not do it.

 

No I took the link that my current site has for my by now buttons and they linked to the products and all. What I'm saying is how can I redesign my shopping_cart.php file? I mean I'm a dreamweaver user so would I be able to download the shopping_cart.php file vie ftp and just edit it in dreamweaver and re upload it?

[lindsayanng]

no. You can not edit php in dreamweaver. Php is a server side type of coding. I am honestly surprised that all this needs to be explained, since you work for or own a web design company..

 

Basically all of the pages are made up of different php files. There is the header.php, left_column.php, right_column.php, footer.php. These kinda of make up a template for oscommerce shopping carts. You can customize all of those pages any way you want, but they need to be there, and they need to be called on by the code in order to show up in the same place every time. They are in the INCLUDES section of the file structure.

 

You basically need to set up php and mysql on your home computer if you want to do a WYSIWYG type of design, and even then it is not all that easy. I have never tried it.

 

You could also impliment STS (a contribution) that allows for easier HTML style editing. I have never used that either so i dont really know too much about it.

 

Basically, if you REALLY want to customize your cart the way you want it, you need to learn more about php.

 

Also, you said that your BUY NOW button is not adding the product in the cart. i know you said you linked it to the product, but did you link it to the database to pull ALL of the correct info?

[sa8901]

no. You can not edit php in dreamweaver. Php is a server side type of coding. I am honestly surprised that all this needs to be explained, since you work for or own a web design company..

 

Basically all of the pages are made up of different php files. There is the header.php, left_column.php, right_column.php, footer.php. These kinda of make up a template for oscommerce shopping carts. You can customize all of those pages any way you want, but they need to be there, and they need to be called on by the code in order to show up in the same place every time. They are in the INCLUDES section of the file structure.

 

You basically need to set up php and mysql on your home computer if you want to do a WYSIWYG type of design, and even then it is not all that easy. I have never tried it.

 

You could also impliment STS (a contribution) that allows for easier HTML style editing. I have never used that either so i dont really know too much about it.

 

Basically, if you REALLY want to customize your cart the way you want it, you need to learn more about php.

 

Also, you said that your BUY NOW button is not adding the product in the cart. i know you said you linked it to the product, but did you link it to the database to pull ALL of the correct info?

 

No I didn't mess with any part of the database. I personally myself haven't messed around with OScommerce shopping cart. Only a PayPal based shopping cart which has their own shopping cart. This is what I want if only google had their own shopping cart. Are their any alternatives? Like PayPal? I don't want to use them.

[lindsayanng]

i have no idea. I have never use anything other than this.. and this is my first php site.. Anyways, if you dont want to mess with databases, then you are not in the right place.

 

Listen, i have NO KNOWLEDGE of php coding, but i GET IT. I cant create code, but i can look at it, know what it's saying (somewhat) and fix it. i did a lot of reading and learning along the way. When i started, i didnt even know what SERVER SIDE meant.

 

anyways, you CAN build a GREAT shopping cart with little knowledge of how the actual code works. You CAN NOT do what you want to do without REALLY knowing the depth of the shopping cart.

 

Just think about. By simply linking a button from a products page to a shopping cart what are you doing? You are just bringing a person to that page. You need to query the database when the person clicks on the button. The website needs to pull the information from the database and put it into the shopping cart. Now, if you were just customizing the basic oscommerce cart (which you CAN do to make look like your template) then you dont need to code any of that because the program does it for you. You just ad your product with the info in the admin section and you are done.

 

Basically, customizing it is a pain, but its not impossible, and there are a lot of people and documentation to help you learn.. but if you are dead set on using that particular HTML template, you are going to have a heck of a time finding a QUALITY cart that looks professional.

[sa8901]

i have no idea. I have never use anything other than this.. and this is my first php site.. Anyways, if you dont want to mess with databases, then you are not in the right place.

 

Listen, i have NO KNOWLEDGE of php coding, but i GET IT. I cant create code, but i can look at it, know what it's saying (somewhat) and fix it. i did a lot of reading and learning along the way. When i started, i didnt even know what SERVER SIDE meant.

 

anyways, you CAN build a GREAT shopping cart with little knowledge of how the actual code works. You CAN NOT do what you want to do without REALLY knowing the depth of the shopping cart.

 

Just think about. By simply linking a button from a products page to a shopping cart what are you doing? You are just bringing a person to that page. You need to query the database when the person clicks on the button. The website needs to pull the information from the database and put it into the shopping cart. Now, if you were just customizing the basic oscommerce cart (which you CAN do to make look like your template) then you dont need to code any of that because the program does it for you. You just ad your product with the info in the admin section and you are done.

 

Basically, customizing it is a pain, but its not impossible, and there are a lot of people and documentation to help you learn.. but if you are dead set on using that particular HTML template, you are going to have a heck of a time finding a QUALITY cart that looks professional.

 

I understand that. But you say I can make a my cart look close to my website with just some adjustments. What is it that I would be adjusting though? Also when I said I linked the products to the website I meant like I link them to go to the products description page.

[lindsayanng]

right..and then you said you linked your buy now or add to cart button to the shopping cart, but you have to tell it WHAT to add to the cart, otherwise it just becomes a button or a link.

 

if you want to learn how to customize the oscommerce set up, like i said.. you need to read a lot and do a lot of searching. There are some good books, by Monika Mathis, and David Mercer. Search their names and the word oscommerce and you will come up with some good ones.

 

Also, search this forum. In the TIPS AND TRICKS, there is a thread called Basic Design and that will have a lot.

 

if you look at the top of this page, you will see something that says SOLUTIONS. Clikc on that, then click DOCUMENTATION and then click KNOWLEDGE BASE. There will you find more information on the layout and structure of oscommerce.

 

I also made a ROAD MAP to oscommerce file structure in the TIPS AND TRICKS SECTION

 

Do a BUNCH of reading. it would IMPOSSIBLE for me to sit here and tell you everything you need to do to make that site look the way you wanted. Otherwise i SHOULD be the one getting paid and not you!